Tars Awaken In 2nd Half, 88-65

March 2, 1988|By Jeff Babineau of The Sentinel Staff

WINTER PARK — After being lulled by a snail-like pace in the opening half, the Rollins College Tars came to life Tuesday night in their Sunshine State Conference Tournament opener at Enyart-Alumni Fieldhouse, easing their way past Saint Leo, 88-65.

The Tars' reward for the victory is a rematch with Florida Southern, the nation's top-ranked NCAA II club and the Sunshine State's regular-season champion, on the Mocs' home floor Friday night at 7:30. In the other semifinal, Florida Institute of Technology will take on Tampa, an 87-60 winner over Eckerd.

The Tars (21-7), who had little trouble with Saint Leo during the regular season, appeared more confused than confident heading to the locker room at intermission.

The Monarchs (10-16) maintained a slow tempo and connected on four 3- pointers to stay within striking distance, trailing at the half, 31-27.

''There was no panic, we just felt that we had to go out there and get the job done,'' Rollins Coach Tom Klusman said. ''This team has a lot of confidence in itself. They know the things that they're capable of doing.''

And, in the second half, the Tars, who finished with a 17-2 home record, started hitting shots. They capitalized on opportunities at the free-throw line and scrambled to get to loose balls. They played a hard-nosed brand of defense that generated easy baskets on the offensive end.

The result was a 24-2 run in the second half that turned a close game into a romp in seven minutes. Dan Wolf (18 points, 10 rebounds) keyed the surge, hitting a 3-point shot from the left corner to get things started en route to scoring 11 of the Tars' 24 points, leaving Rollins on top, 61-40.

Curt Fiser and Jeff Wolf scored 20 and 17 points, respectively. In his last three contests, Fiser, who was 8-for-11 from the floor against the Monarchs, has made 26-of-32 shots, an 81 percent clip.